Destiny or Fate
by Elot
Summary: You are here for a reason. You don't know what it is, and may never know. But here you are, ready and waiting. This story is about man that you don't know. But will get to know very well over the course of the story. From Veltan
1. Chapter 1

**One**

You are here for a reason. You don't know what it is, and may never know. But here you are, ready and waiting. This story is about man that you don't know. But will get to know very well over the course of the story. I know what you might be thinking; I'm crazy, well I'm not. I am a well educated human being and I know what I'm talking about.

Oh, mind my manners, I've forgotten basic courtesy. My name is Theophilus Fairasee. However I don't except you o remember that so just call me Phil. I know Phil doesn't sound that posh, but I like it better than Theo. I once knew someone called Theo; unfortunately I now wish I didn't know him. Alas that is a story for another time.

Coincidently the man in the story is also called Phil, except this time its short for Phillip, Not Theophilus. He was a normal man, although anyone that can lead an army or kill hundreds of men without a scratch probably isn't normal. So let's say he is not normal in the sense that he's not a farmer. Except that he was a farmer, once. That was a lifetime ago, literally.

One crisp winter's day, early in the morning Phil was raking up the solid mass of leaves that had formed on the path leading from his front door, luckily the snow had not started to fall yet, he could still go and get the pumpkins in ready for the harsh winter that was on its way. He would be needing them to survive as nothing else would grow in the harsh landscape that he lived in.

In the fields, the spotted pattern of the stark orange pumpkins made Phil chuckle with delight. It's not every day you see a sight like that which warms the heart. Securing the woollen hat on his head, he started picking the pumpkins one by one. Each individual treated with the same care as the last, so not to waste any. Each would be needed to last out the winter. The food would be very bland for the next four months or so, but alas that was all he had.

Once the sun was half way past the horizon Phil went in for the day, happy in the knowledge that he had collected at least three quarters of the pumpkins in his fields. The rest would have to wait till tomorrow.

When inside his house, Phil was safe from the outside world, there were things out there that his grandmother had told him about. Things that only very few people survived encounters with. Alternatively she also told Phil about the amazing wonders out there, animals that can heal any wound, no matter how fatal. Others that can run faster that sound can travel and can run from one side of Algoria to the other in a matter of hours; a feat that would take the fastest horse man has ever ridden about 12 to 14 days, depending on the route taken.

Once, Phil had gone to the local pub, about 10 minutes away, to see the travelling storyteller. The man spoke of a great evil that was sweeping across the land; of how it had already taken over the western plains of Jerada, despite the resistance. They forced the inhabitants to work on war machines and other fearsome apparatus that can kill hundreds of men in a few minutes, let alone a whole battle. More able bodied individuals were enchanted so that they fought for the army, killing their own friends and family without knowing what they were doing, just vessels for the evil controlling them. As they moved, despite casualties, the army grew in strength. Day by day it swept across the land, consuming different inhabitants; unaware of what was right on their doorstep. Some tried to fight back, but were crushed. As they say if you can't beat them, join them.

That evening whilst Phil was putting another log on the fire, a knock sounded at the door, followed by cries for help. Who could be there this time of night thought Phil? The cries for help erupted from behind the old wooden door, more desperate this time round. Upon opening the door his eyes laid upon a young sorceress, her robes told him all he needed to know about her branch of magic. Clutching her side in pain, she groaned as blood seeped from between her fingers.

"Come in quickly, you don't look so good?" Phil said.

"Hurry...its coming...attacked suddenly... My horse, where is m..." She gasped, as she collapsed into Phil's arms. In the distance he spied her horse pacing nervously outside his front gate, blood streaks up the path revealed that she had almost crawled up to his door. She definitely was desperate. Before closing the door, the horse turned the opposite way form before and Phil noticed a barbed arrow protruding from the saddle of the horse, its design was very different to anything he had ever seen, yet.

Phil rapidly closed the door. Just in case the woman wasn't lying about something attacking her Phil bolted it with his free hand. The other hand supported the wounded sorceress as she slowly lost consciousness, exhausted from her long trip

Her boots scraped against the stone floor as he dragged her to his kitchen table where she could lay down to rest. Once he had checked the window for any signs of attackers Phil returned to the sorceress, realising now that he had let a random woman into his house late at night, not knowing what she could do to him with the flick of a finger. Luckily she had passed out, however unluckily she was still bleeding from her side. Reaching over he removed her hand from the wound, instantly applying pressure to stem the bleeding slightly, turning towards the sink behind him, Phil picked up a wet cloth he had used for his dishes only hours before. It was definitely clean as he had washed it out after washing the dishes, so at least he wouldn't make the wound more infected. He ripped open her shirt to see how large the wound was, ignoring any feminine qualities that would have otherwise distracted him. Wiping away any excess blood around the wound, Phil could then examine the extent of how bad it really was. Once the blood was gone Phil could see that it wasn't as bad as he had once thought, the reason it looked so bad was the amount of blood that had come from the wound. Getting his thread from the draw, Phil noticed the dagger attached to her belt. It had blood on it, however this blood was green. In the whole of his life Phil had never seen blood this colour, although he had never actually been out of the valley in his whole life, so he wouldn't know.

Early in next morning a groan erupted from the kitchen, she had woken up. "Where am I?" croaked the woman.

"In my house, you appeared at my door about 7 hours ago. I've stitched your wound and bandaged it up, hopefully you'll make a full recovery" Phil answered. Whilst getting up from the table, the sorceress clutched her side in pain. "It will still be sore for a while, so try not to move much."

"No, you don't understand! We have to keep moving. It coming for me, we cannot stop."

"What won't stop? What are you going on about?"

"There is something out there, don't ask me how large it is, because it grows every day. It doesn't stop, not for anyone, or anything. It's like a giant black cloud that sweeps across the land. We will die if we stay here!"

"I think I know what you're talking about. I thought it was only a story. Not a real thing, that old man was always drunk, we never believed him. It was just a place to get away from the toils of the fields."

Clambering down of the table, she hobbled through the kitchen into the hallway then out the front of the house. Her horse was still there as it was very loyal and a good horse. It was brown and mottled with black stripes like the horses his mother had told him about. She heaved herself up onto the horse groaning as she went.

"You're not in as fit state to ride! You'll just open the wound again." Phil protested.

"I don't care; I'd rather endure some mild pain rather than be killed in a few hours, or be conscripted into an army!" She shouted back down the lane.

"You can't go by yourself, it's too dangerous."

"No more dangerous than its going to be here!" She argued.

"Fine, I'll come with you. What should I take?"

"Bring any food that will last us the journey, also canteens of water. But not large ones as they will weigh us down too much." Phil ran into the house, almost tripping over his own feet as he went. He grabbed bread that he had made a few days before. Some dried beef as well as some biscuits and a pumpkin or two. Stuffing them into his bag, he carried on running. Going through to the back of the house, Phil picked up two of his medium sized canteens, filling them with water from his tap.

As he got to the back of the house he realised that he would need a horse. Sprinting to the stables he chose his best horse, fast but with good stamina. Opening all of the stable doors, he shooed and shouted the horses out of the stables, all apart from the one he would be riding. Better they be free rather than serving under a giant evil. Saddling up his horse, he led it round the front of the house, bagged up with food and water for the journey.

"Do you have any kind of weapon you could use to defend yourself with?"

"I have a bow and arrow that I use for hunting, and a sword that I keep under my bed, just in case."

"Go and get them, quickly! We are running out of time" She shouted. Sprinting into the house again, he flew into his bedroom, diving under the bed grabbing his father's sword. Then he went into the living room and grabbed the bow and arrows off of the mantel piece. He heard footsteps coming from the hallway leading into the living room. Shouting dwon the hallway thinking it was the sorceress telling him to hurry up.

"I have them!" He shouted out of the window.

"And we have her!" A voice answered as his world fell into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

It was all a dream before. Now it was only darkness, the real blackness. Am I dead thought Phil? A bright face of an wise old man appeared in front of him. "Who are you?" Phil asked.

"I am the man that is going to change your life and make you a hero!" he proclaimed.

"Ok... But I'm just a simple farmer, and it looks like I'm dead right now, so I don't think you can help me!"

"But that is where you are wrong young child, I can change everything"

"Firstly I'm not a young child, and secondly" Cutting Phil off mid speech the old man placed his palm onto Phil's forehead, then a blinding white light and an excruciating pain erupted from nowhere.

A wet tongue licked the side of Phil's face as he lay unconscious on the floor. See as he had just died and then come back to life, he was relatively fine. Slowly propping himself up he opened his eyes and all that he could find wrong with him was a blindingly painful headache. Getting up he then realised he had horse slobber all over his face. His horse was now standing a few feet away from him now, faithful as always.

The group that had killed him and taken the sorceress were a scout group, going ahead to see what lay ahead that could be pillaged. Now he had to go towards the enemy to save a woman that he had met only the day before and he didn't even know her name. He jumped up onto his horse and then rode like the wind following the tracks of the last group to go through here.

Once the sun had set, Phil stopped and made a camp fire. In the distance he could see a feint light, smoke flowing from the top of it. That must be her thought Phil. Jumping back onto his horse he galloped as fast as he could and then slowing to a stop when he got there. Phil jumped off his horse and slowly crept up to the camp. He could see the sorceresses horse tied up outside a small tent on the outskirts of the camp, with only one guard in front of it. They would never suspect him. They thought he was dead.

Lifting up the back of the canvas tent, Phil slipped into the makeshift prison cell. He appeared in a near empty space, bar the bound and gagged figure kneeling in the centre of the room. Slowly and quietly he crept up to her and cut her bound hands with his knife, the cutting the rope round her mouth she was now free. He dragged her out of the tent and then slowly to his horse. Galloping as fast as he could, going back the way he came, towards his house. After 3 hours of hard riding he could still see the light of the advancing party coming after him. He then decided to veer off and miss his house, everything he needed was tied to his horse so what difference would it make. They would go back there anyway to check if he was there. Pushing the horse onward he rode throughout the night, only stopping when the horse went rabid.

After almost a day's solid riding he stopped in a small valley so that the horse could drink and they could rest. The sorceress had not yet woken up from her slumber; they must have given her something in food or drink. Then almost as if she had heard him think it she woke up slowly. Her eyes fluttered and her breathing grew deeper as she drew in a fresh breath. "Where are we, also I thought you were dead" She gasped

"Well apparently not. He wouldn't let me!"

"Who wouldn't?" she asked slightly confused

"Never mind, let's just get you rested and then we'll be on our way." She laid her head down on the ground, letting the sounds of the world absorb. She had been unconscious for more than a day and her brain was playing tricks on her. The horse had two tails at the moment then only one. She had double vision, something was wrong. Suddenly the sorceress feinted again, running over to see if she was ok, Phil first checked her pulse. His mother had always taught him to check pulse then airways. Slowly her eyes opened.

"Take this, it's a map and this also, it's a compass that will point you to north." She had given him a small piece of paper and a rock. Placing the rock on the floor he saw as it moved and the pointed end stopped in a certain direction. He had never seen magic in his life, not even when the travelling circus came through the valley. "What your name anyway, I'm doing all this for you and so far I have got nothing in return. What is stopping me from leaving you here to die or get captured again?"

"Your destiny" Those two words hit him like a brick wall moving as fast as a horse straight into his chest. No words came to mind as he tried to muster a comeback, when something did come to mind, his throat dried up. Finally when he did say something she was already out cold. Phil lifted her up onto the horse, he didn't want to leave her, and he was just tired and stressed from the journey. "My name is Evevynne but you should call me Eve." Then she was finally out. Jumping up onto the horse he looked at the piece of paper she had given him. It was a map, but not just any old map, an enchanted map that showed the users location.

The map was laid out like this from left to right. A dry arid desert with a culture very different to everywhere else, this had a river running through it which then filled the lake at the bottom of the map. Phil lived somewhere down near the lake, however now he was next to a tributary that led into the river. This was then followed by a green countryside which now was just a mush of mud because of the large army marching across it. The other side of the map was a giant jungle followed by a mountainous complex full of wonders and also dangers. The mountains were where they were going to go. TH army would take a long time getting the jungle, let alone cutting it all down or going through it without some casualties. That's if they ever did get the mountains the people there would massacre them because they knew the land and they could hide and ambush them easily because the army would be split up because of the layout of the mountains.

Finally knowing which way he was going to go, Phil set off down the valley, confident in what he was going to achieve. The only thing he didn't count on what that the people following him had just seen everything go on and knew exactly where he was going. This was going to be tough.


End file.
